The Super Smash Bros. games have always been a part of my life ever since I was six years old. I started playing the original Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 (N64) ever since it was first released in the spring of 1999. My cousin at that time had a Nintendo 64 and he had rented Super Smash Bros. from Blockbuster. I would go to his house very frequently on the weekends to play Super Smash Bros. for the N64. The first time I played Super Smash Bros. for the N64, I had instantly fallen in love with the game. As a six-year-old, I was excited to see some of Nintendo’s iconic characters from their most beloved franchises duke it out in an all-out fight. At the time my favorite character to play in that particular game was Kirby, because he can suck up his opponents like a vacuum to effectively copy their special moves; he can also fly or hover in the air for quite a while. I was always so excited when I played Kirby. Also as a six-year-old I had a lot of fun playing with items on, especially with the hammer. I would also shield a lot too, because I thought it was so cool that I could be protected from enemy attacks from close and long ranges. I eventually got my own N64 and my own copy of Super Smash Bros. for the N64. Super Smash Bros. was my favorite game for the Nintendo 64, but little did I know at the time that the Super Smash Bros. series as a whole will play a huge role in my life in a very big way.
In November of 2001, Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube was released. From childhood up until mid-adolescence I did not have the opportunity to personally own a Nintendo GameCube, however, I would always play Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube at my church in the games space right before Sunday School as well as my friend’s house. I always knew that there was something about Super Smash Bros. series that I was attracted to. I guess it was the fact that anybody can truly enjoy the game. Both competitive and casual players can enjoy different aspects of the game and have a lot of fun! The accessibility of Super Smash Bros. is astounding. For a long time, I played Smash Bros. Melee very occasionally when I would be at friend’s houses or at church. But when I was fifteen years old in the spring of 2008, I had decided to get a GameCube and a copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee and delve deeper into the game. I beat all the single player modes such as the Event matches, Adventure Mode, Break the Targets, Classic Mode, and All-Star Mode. I even unlocked all the characters in the game. I played Smash Melee a lot until I was about to start college in fall of 2010. Smash Melee was so much fun for me, but I had no idea that I was going to be introduced to the competitive scene of the Super Smash Bros. series during college, which will change my perspective on Smash Bros. drastically.
Fast-forward to fall of 2010, when I was a freshman in college and I was in my Drawing Studio class. My soon-to-be colleague and friend to this day overheard my conversation with someone else talking about Super Smash Bros. She was so excited and she told me about the competitive Smash scene. At the time I did not know the competitive Smash scene existed. My friend was one of the best Smash players in the region at the time and was a Peach main in Smash Melee. Also, Super Smash Bros. Brawl was out at the time for the Nintendo Wii and everyone was talking about how Meta Knight was broken and overpowered in Brawl. My friend told me about a Smash tournament she was organizing and running that upcoming Saturday on campus, and she told me to stop by her house on that Friday because she was hosting a SmashFest the night before the tournament. SmashFests are friendly gatherings at a person’s house usually the night before the tournament in which people practice with each other and learn from each other. These practice sessions would help people improve at the game together. So I stopped by her house for the SmashFest to learn and have fun. At the time I was really into Smash 64 and Brawl competitively, but I played Melee casually because at the time I felt that Melee was way more complex than other Smash games, which it is. The tournament came the next day and I got bodied at the tournament, but it was a learning experience learning to adapt to the opponent and react to their movements. Although I didn’t do well in the tournament, this was my very first experience in the tournament scene for Smash Bros. in-general and it changed my outlook towards the game as well as life in-general.
Over the next few years I would play the different Super Smash Bros. games with friends in a semi-competitive manner. Meaning that I would not play in tournaments because as a college student I didn’t have the time or money at the time, but I would still play with friends with the official tournaments. This would continue until the release of Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo Wii-U in the fall of 2014. When Smash Wii-U came out in late 2014, I was excited! There was hype regarding the game mainly because the same game was released for the Nintendo 3DS months earlier. I was considering playing competitively for the next year, but in late 2015 I made the decision to play Smash Bros. competitively starting with Smash Wii-U due to a special video that changed my perspective on competitive Smash Bros. entirely.
On November 27th 2015, I watched the Super Smash Bros. Melee Documentary for the first time. It was extremely intriguing watching a video about the history of the competitive Smash scene as well as how notable players such as Ken, Azen, Mew2king, Mango, PC Chris, Isai, Korean DJ, etc. became dominant players in the Smash scene. This spurred me on to pursue competitive Smash and eSports more vigorously than ever before. Watching this documentary awakened a dream in me; an unquenchable fire that is a drive for excellence to become one of the best Super Smash Bros. players of all time in the competitive scene. As a Super Smash Bros. Wii-U player at the time, I wanted to become exceedingly skilled at the game so I entered biweekly tournaments in Syracuse and competed in Smash Wii-U tournaments. But soon the big Upstate Regional tournament would be arriving in February and that would significantly inspire me to completely change focus from Super Smash Bros. Wii-U to Super Smash Bros. Melee within the competitive scene.
On Saturday, February 20th 2016, I had the opportunity of hanging out with two Super Smash Bros. legends, The Moon and DJNintendo at the Upstate, New York regional tournament known as Cusetown Beatdown in Syracuse, NY. They are among the top 50 best players in the world for Super Smash Bros. Melee. This was one of the best moments in my life, and I will forever cherish this moment. After talking to them and hanging out with them I decided to pursue competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee over all other Super Smash Bros. games. This new passion for Smash Melee would inspire me to practice tech skill and strategy every single day and also dedicate myself to a standard for excellence in Super Smash Bros. Melee. On Saturday, May 7th 2016, I had the opportunity of meeting Mike Haze, who is also among the top 50 in the world for Super Smash Bros. Melee at an Albany, New York Tournament known as New Fish. I will forever cherish this moment and it's cool meeting new people. As I strive to become one of the best Super Smash Bros. Melee competitive players of all time, it's going be an incredible journey meeting new people and living life to the fullest.
So to everyone who has always had a life dream that they had always wanted to achieve, here is my advice to you: Always chase after your dreams and live life to the fullest so that later in life you can look back in satisfaction and say "I have no regrets and I have lived life to the fullest." Go pursue your dreams everyone, now is the time to do it!!
